The man who found Mother Teresa behind bars

Hiroshi Igarashi's path to the Church began in prison, where he was introduced to Christianityâ€”and, especially, to Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He has harbored a deep respect for? that holy woman ever since, and these days makes room on the wall of his ?small Tokyo apartment for pictures of her.

Some of the pictures previously hung in his prison cell. Normally,?that wouldnâ€™t have been allowed, but Igarashi appealed to the prison? administrators on that point and finally obtained permission.

One? night, a corrections officer patrolling his cell block asked him, â€śHey, do? me a favor and take that picture down. Her eyes are scary.â€ť

Igarashi ?replied, â€śTheyâ€™re only scary because youâ€™re a sinner!â€ť

Now that he is a free man again, Igarashi has started a group in Tokyo called â€śMother House.â€ť It is dedicated to helping those in prison turn their lives around and re-enter? society when their term is up. In addition to taking its name from Mother? Teresa, the group also bases its activities on her mentality and on the? Bible.

With three criminal counts and nearly 20 years in prison on his ?record, Igarashi knows the reality and all the problems of life behind bars.

â€śMany prisoners are isolated and starved of love. What these people need is someone who will ?support them with love, but thereâ€™s no one doing that," he says. "Prisoners have no one to go to for advice, so they give up on ?themselves. Their time behind bars just hurts them more, and they get worse.?â€ť

Igarashi speaks from his experience as he too gave up on himself at one point. When he was jailed for a third time, his family cut off all ties with? him. He was contemplating suicide, but just then a cheerful? Japanese Brazilian was detained by the police. The man prayed often and? talked to Igarashi about the Bible.

That was how Igarashi first started reading scriptures. One verse in? particular stood out: â€śSaul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4)â€ť To ?Igarashi, it sounded as though Christ was asking him personally, â€śWhy do you ?commit sins against me?â€ť

That became his moment of conversion. He prayed with all his heart, crying ?aloud, â€śIâ€™m sorry!â€ť He realized that when Jesus died on the cross, he was ?taking Igarashiâ€™s own place there, and he sobbed uncontrollably. A? corrections officer, thinking him at the point of suicide, did everything he ?could to console the desolate man.

Igarashiâ€™s introduction to Mother Teresa also came in prison, from? a book he ran across by chance. He was immediately convinced that ?â€śthis person is the real thingâ€ť and wanted to go and learn from her; only ?later would he discover that she had already died. Fortunately, he ?did have a chance to meet with some members of the religious society she founded, the Missionaries of Charity.

He met with many others from the Church before his sentence was up, ?including bishops, priests, and religious sisters. The late Cardinal Seiichi? S. hirayanagi offered him a correspondence course introducing him to the? Catholic faith. A Protestant lawyer took it upon himself to act as Igarashiâ€™s Â ?guarantor.

On his release, Igarashi set about turning his belief into practical action with the Mother House, which held its inaugural meeting last month.? Archbishop Takeo Okada expressed his support with a personal message.

These days, Igarashiâ€™s phone starts ringing early in the morning with inquiries about the Mother House and ?it doesnâ€™t let up all day. He gives the work all he has, striving to? imitate Mother Teresaâ€™s way of love.